Maria-Efimia Dimoka · Contemporary Greek Art · 2023
The Light
Project
Where Greek light meets canvas — a meditation on shadow, time, and the fleeting beauty of everyday moments.
01 — The Project
An exploration of light's most overlooked companion: the shadow.
Dance of the Shadows captures, through nine handmade acrylic paintings, the ephemeral interplay between light and shadow in the Greek landscape — moments so fleeting they exist for mere minutes before transforming entirely.
Each painting begins with a photograph taken throughout the day, a witness to reality as transient as light itself. These images reveal details not immediately obvious: the way sunlight slips through Cycladic cracks, how railings cast rhythmic shadows on curtains, or the optical illusions created by intense Mediterranean light on a ship's deck.
Using flat, solid colors intentionally, the focus shifts to the shadow, where emotion emerges most powerfully. Inspired by the radiant language of Greek painter Panayiotis Tetsis and architect Louis Kahn, these paintings reflect a simple truth: light and shadow cannot exist without each other.
- Shadows in Blue3 works
- Shadows in Red3 works
- Shadows in Yellow3 works
“The purpose of light is to create shadows, and shadows exist to create emotion.”
02 — The Works
Nine paintings,
three colors.
Original acrylic on canvas, 120 × 120 cm each — every title marks the minute the light was caught.
03 — The Artist
Maria-Efimia Dimoka
A contemporary Greek artist exploring the relationship between light and shadow in everyday moments — and the unique quality of Greek light: intense, rich, radiant.
Born in Thessaloniki, she studied at the 5th Painting Studio of the School of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, under Lambros Psirrakis, Aliki Martzopoulou, and Maria Vozali. She also holds a degree from the University of Macedonia and a Master's in Special Education from the University of Nicosia.
Her process begins with her mobile phone, a witness to fleeting reality. Throughout the day she photographs moments where light and shadow create unexpected beauty — sunlight turning a staircase into a linear pattern, shadows dancing across curtains. These photographs become the foundation for her paintings.
She works exclusively in acrylic, a medium she chose out of necessity while pregnant with her second child, when oil fumes would have been dangerous. She discovered that acrylic's immediacy matches her goal: capturing specific moments in time. Each painting is a moment that, a minute later, would have been entirely different.
The square format comes from her photo editing process, as she focuses on a single detail. All works are 120 × 120 cm — suited to both private collections and gallery spaces. She creates from her studio in Greece, where the light remains her greatest inspiration.
Group exhibitions
- 2023“Visualbility”, 19–24 June 2023, French Institute, Thessaloniki.
- 2023/θre.psis/, 27 April–7 May 2023, Toss Gallery, Thessaloniki.
- 20224th Panhellenic Painting Competition “Lukas Venetoulias”, Teloglion Foundation of Art, Thessaloniki.
- 2022“The Monuments and I: Recall and Interpretation of Memory”, 6th International Festival of Monuments of Thessaloniki, 1–30 June 2022, Cultural Venue “Islahane”, Thessaloniki.
- 20215th bio-Mechanical Festival “Palimpsest #21”, 4 July–2 August 2021, Mytaras Gallery, Chalkida.
04 — Contact
Bring the light home.
Interested in acquiring an original work, commissioning a painting, or exploring a collaboration? All paintings are available for purchase and ship internationally.
@thelightproject.art